Along with Atmosphere and Aesop Rock, Rhode Island’s Sage Francis successfully ascended from the ’90s underground community to an emcee recognized in pockets of the mainstream for witty wisdom and sophisticated wordplay. The Miami-born Providence transplant quickly rose up the national ranks as a slam poetry contestant and battle champion, later finding himself featured in commercials for the 2000 Winter X-Games and the soundtrack for the 2008 film Pride And Glory. Despite being a provocative dual-degree holder, the onetime Anticon affiliate’s opinionated, controversial subject matter often has positioned him as one of underground Hip Hop’s more polarizing forces. As depicted by Shepard Fairey’s fiery winged portrait on its cover, Li(f)e hones in on, amongst other topics, Sage’s challenges organized religion. Building upon the lyrics for Hope’s “The Cure,” Francis suggests, “Life is just a lie with an ‘f’ in it.”
Despite, at one time, never being able to “get with a guitar riff,” Sage Francis has bravely chosen to revitalize his image by purposefully collaborating with Indie Rock artists without Hip Hop genre experience. After flirting with this transition on tracks like A Healthy Distrust’s “Sea Lion” and more heavily on Human The Death Dance, Li(f)e puts Hip Hop’s signature drums and loops aside and employs a more country-fried roots vibe. Under the creative direction of Modest Mouse’s Brian Deck and the likes of Amelie composer Yann Tiersen and the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, Sage’s spoken word is set to instrumentation such as acoustic and slide guitars, maracas, pedal bass, vibraphone, and violin. Although it defies convention, many of these sonic backgrounds finally make Francis sound at home, in a career where beat-selection has been criticized more than rhymes. In spite of more memorable melodies on tracks like “Love The Lie,” much of Li(f)e’s production varies in success.
Taking on the role of a news reporter, Sage Francis opens the album with the alt-country epic “Little Houdini,” a true story about a misunderstood Florida inmate who constantly escaped prison to visit dying relatives. Converse to this uncharacteristically straightforward tale, other songs are more metaphor-driven. Leveraging his roots as the co-founder of KnowMore.org, Francis lends his thoughts about the current events such as the economic crisis (“Diamonds And Pearls”) and ill-motive physicians (“Polterzeitgeist”). Feeling like an old man wanting to slow down life’s pace (“Slow Man”), Sage also reminisces about growing from failed relationships (“16 Years”) and the challenges of an abortion decision (“The Baby Stays”).
While Li(f)e took three years to complete, “The Best Of Times” surprisingly winds up being a scale-tipping last-minute addition. Inspired by an old letter to his girlfriend, the distressed chronicle takes listeners down memory road, shedding light onto Sage Francis’ history as a paranoid, obsessive youth who flirted with suicide. Regrettably slipping a love letter into the wrong locker, Francis rhymes, “At least I didn’t include my name / Thankfully, I wrote the whole note in code / And it had 10 layers of Scotch tape, safety sealed, making it impossible to open / Plus, it was set to self-destruct / Whoever read it probably died laughing / I wonder if they lived long enough to realize what happened.”
In comparison to previous albums, Li(f)e comes across as Sage Francis’ break-out solo album. Musically, he’s stepped away from the comparisons, and achieved genre-bending that others, such as Cage, stumbled with. Within the project though, there are some great fumbles. Tired lyrics and uninspired choruses such as the relative-assisted “London Bridge” and the Schoolhouse Rock reminiscent “I Was Zero” make Li(f)e debatable as Sage’s best songwriting. Although these more simplistic lyrics have singsong value, the project sadly lacks A Healthy Distrust’s aggressive anger and Hope’s quotability. Still, this is hardly underground Hip Hop in the traditional sense, and the moving musical passages accentuate Sage’s stronger verses better than any beat-maker of the last five years ever has.
worked on it for three years… I’d like to hear it.
Another faggot review courtesy of HipHopDX!
Another faggot moron who’s giving HipHopDX their time. Courtesy of shitty society and lack of a girlfriend.
Whatever you think, Malcolm aka “faggot supreme.” Had no idea you had such a hard on for the guy, sorry to offend you.
Listened to the samples, the lyrics and delivery are corny as fuck, and the beats are unique but still shit.
Not really my cup of tea. Too much rock music for me to consider this genuine hip hop. This is more of an alternative album to me. I’ll give it a 3 out of 5 just for the music quality and creativity. Of course I’m rating it from a hip hop head standpoint. Perhaps college music fans would give it a 4 or 5.
sage francis is the definition of a hip hop faggot.
hes an hip hop deformity. he hates his fans. hes anti-social. and hes the fattest vegan on the planet.
this brutish homo is rockin size 40 pants and eats nothing but grass, whats goin on there?
he rhymes over electronic clunkers, and has no flow to speak of. hes fat and depressing, thats his style.
leave it to dx to give this lame 4 stars for putting out a frisbee.
i also like how sage used an old picture of himself for the cover. sage lost his hair 5 years ago, and has tripled in size. insecure sage?
sage i know your reading this, cuz you get less pub than respect, if i ever catch you in the organic food store im knocking your hippie ass out with a bag of bird seed.
dx, why dont yall show love to a real white boy that doesnt get herbed and puts out actual hip hop, and review necros new album. sage francis is a disgrace, hed rather rock with fall out boy than rakim, he rocks hemp sandals and packs more fudge than hersheys.
LMAO!!!!!
Yo, this is quite possibly the most quotable post I’ve ever read on a website
“If I catch you in the organic Food Market I’m knocking you out with a bad of Bird seed”
Priceless
hahahahahahaha
For someone who hates this guy so much, you sure enjoy gossiping about him. Seriously, if this guy isn’t worth your time why are you are so familiar with his weight, dietary habits, hair styles, and social habits.
didn’t read…but i like the cover artwork.
SAGE FRANCIS IS A PIECE OF SHIT. THE WORST EVER TO COME OUT OF RI. HE STEPPED PN HIS BOYS TO GET AHEAD. REMEMBER CLOKWORX? AMS UNO? SAGE FRANCIS MUST DIE. IF U SEE HIM PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE. YOU ALL KNOW HE IS GAY
is this hip hop?
fuck no!
if anybody regards Sage Francis as hip hop should be shot!
this is not hip hop!
yet again hiphop dx giving props to another wack (white) artist!
hip hop to me is Talib Kweli, The Roots, Mos Def, Nas, Jay Z, Tupac, Eric B & Rakim, Dre, Snoop, OutKast, Restoring Poetry in Music, CYNE, Cunninlyguist, Binary Star, Senim Silla, One Be Lo, Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, T.I, UGK, Too Short, Scarface, Biggie Smalls, Kanye West, Wu Tang Clan, Guru, Gangstarr, N.W.A, Strong Arm Steady Crew, Tha Pharcyde, J. Cole, KRS One etc, etc my list is endless and varied!
This isn’t hip hop!
I wouldn’t even waste my bandwidth igellay downloading it!
any FOOL who gives this more than a 1 star has no idea about hip hop!!!
Hip Hop is not defined by convention. If that should ever happen, then the genre will die. I agree with most of your list, except Snoop, Dre, UGK, Scarface, T.I, 2 Short, NWA & J.Cole (Kanye just plain sucks). In my opinion they’re wack. They don’t innovate shit, they just put out the same “G” trash over and over again.
Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, Mac Lethal, Sadistik, Cage, El-P, Eyedea & P.O.S are all valid Hip Hop artists, they innovate with every album they put out, mixing genres and redefining the perceptions of what is commonly referred to as Rap.
Just because you can’t understand that doesn’t make it any less relevant.
The artists I mentioned above could out-rap almost anyone alive or dead, they are in the underground cos that’s where real music lives. Mainstream is all corporate controlled and formula driven. That’s not rap, man. That’s pop.
Sigh…
i would be pissed…but you just don’t know any better
At Voodoo Muzik Lover:
Is this your site? Is this “The World According to You”? Were you there when the word hiphop was created and defined? Fuck no you weren’t, asshole! You know why? Cuz that event never fucking happened! I can’t stand fucking douche bags like you. Your whole post drips with fucking ignorance (and racism). Go take your definition of ‘hiphop”, stuff it down your throat and fucking choke on it.
What can I say, I’m a subtle guy.
dawg why do you have to throw the word “white” in there. that’s racist. can white people not rap?
if you dont like it you dont like it. if the skin color of an artist defines whether you like it or not… ask yourself who you really are.
after reading your list of “hip-hop”, is eminem hip-hop or is he too white?
fuck everyone who posted on my comment!
This c**t fuck isn’t hip hop!
Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, Mac Lethal, Sadistik, Cage, El-P, Eyedea ARE ALL ROCK FUSED BULLSHIT….Aesop Rock especially you fucking dumb cunt!
my record collection would piss over all yours after seeing the bullshit artist some of you have suggested!
one cunt dis Dre how the fuck can you diss one of the greatest producer’s of hip hop you dumb cracker cunt!
Voodoo Muzik Lover, you wouldent know hip hop if it doushed you vagina,
“real” hip hop is about being true to the music and not following the same trends in all commercial RAP like half of you list of emcees. I agree it’s not sage’s best album but atleast hes stepping out the boundries and not following the rest of these wack emcees and putting out some more garbage for a little bitch like you to call “real hip hop”
seriuosly half you moron’s have NO idea about HIP HOP!!!! Back in the day before half of you were born! Hip HOp wasn’t commerical as it is now you dumb FUCKS!!!
A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, Guru etc were all regarded as underground! Hip-Hop music as a whole was regarded UNDERGROUND!!!
so to all you dumb fuck hater’s who listen’s to a dumb cunt like Sage Francis….grow a dick before you try mouth raping me you bunch of Lady boys!!!
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
I AM HIP HOP
You’re 100% right in my book. This aint hip hop. I’m not sure if being white has something to do with it but there are only a few white artists that i would consider hip hop throughout the years. 3rd Bass, Beastine Boys, Eminem are hip hop. This is just another confused musician that may like hip hop but doesnt want to jump completely on the ship. Rock/hip hop fusions are ususally wack.
sage francis is wack as fuck, no denying that, but what does his being white have anything to do with it? not to mention, you name check cunninlynguists when kno is white. doesn’t stop him from making dope beats
Hip-hop fans are the most annoying, conservative pieces of shit on Earth. I’m sorry Sage doesn’t sample 70’s soul records or boast about his rhyme prowess, but I think after 30 years, thats become just a LITTLE played out. If you ignorant assholes don’t like it, don’t listen to it and go reminisce about the 90’s, you dip shits. People like you are the reason hip-hop sucks and why it will always be stuck in a bullshit stage full of braggadocio and self-loathing. You don’t need to enjoy Sage’s work, but at least respect that he’s being more hip-hop than any of you could ever be, and not giving a flying fuck.
This is real hip hop
I find it entertaining that most people like to moan about “hip hop being dead” and yet, when an artist comes out that is unique, those same bitches whine about how he is “different” and therefore cannot be a rapper.
Open your eyes, kids. The mainstream hip hop scene sucks balls, has for a long time. Nothing but corny middle aged men acting Gangsta for the little kids that buy their albums. It’s depressing.
This album is very solid, 4.5/5 from me.
Check out Rhymesayers Inc, Stones Throw, Def Jux for some more real hip hop music. Fuck all the Shady/Aftermath, Def Jam, YM crap that is being pushed out as “music”.
It’s real shit. This is him growing up in a genre that doesn’t want you to grow up. You can hate it for being different all you want, but if he’s confident enough to put out something that he knows is going to isolate himself from people that aren’t real fans.
Good/creative music is hard to come by when all you listen to is repetitive songs with rappers that you couldn’t tell apart if you put them in a line.
When you get older and have kids, you tend to grow out of the whole “I’m pissed off at the world” thing.
you the kind of lame to big up adults that shit themselves, like “yall see that?! homie just crapped his pants and hes 40. thats different, dope!”
fuck outta here lame. just because you’re different, doesnt mean you’re nice.
like, kool keith was different. lupe fiasco is different. hell, eminem is different. but guess what, theyre all dope, they make dope albums.
sage francis drinks soy milk and looks down on the hip hop audience still sippin 40’s. fuck is that?
hip hop is rooted in the streets, sage francis is rooted in blue grass.
its the kids defending sage, that probably have a very narrow view of hip hop culture.
like the watcher… peep geekboy 101: hate on UGK for not being innovators, and defend sage francis. youre clueless, youre a clown. you biggin up mac lethal and eyedea, and shittin on NWA. youre a mop top faggot that got introduced to hip hop in the 2 grand, stop talkin.
these reviews are great. they draw a line in the sand. the frauds go balls out defending the abortion of an album, and the heads shit on it for what it really is.
sage francis is a hip hop artist, thats embarrassed of being a hip hop artist. hed rather open for fall out boy than KRS. hes a fraud, tryin to squeeze whatever he can out of something he doesnt love.
fat balding vegan faggots have no place in hip hop. holla.
This is a fantastic album and is up there with Distant Relatives, Marcberg and The Stimulus Package for best album of 2010 so far. All of these people complaining about how this isn’t hip hop don’t know a thing about the genre. Are you going to try and tell me that K-os, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, Cage, Busdriver, The Fugees, J-Zone, Mac Lethal and hiero/souls aren’t hip hop? Go be ignorant and bash Sage somewhere else because a true head knows how good sage is and what he has done for hip hop as a whole. To quote sapient, “Nerd rappers won’t like this, Gangster rappers won’t like this, Indie rockers won’t like this, This is for the heads the heads. Nerd rappers won’t like this, Bitch rappers won’t like this, All the purists won’t like this, This is for the heads.” You can have a preferred style of hip hop like hardcore, alternative, gangster or w/e but a true head recognizes quality so stop fronting.
well said
I’m not a Sage hater like the majority of people on here seem to be, but let’s be serious here, Distant Relatives is way better than this album, so is the new Reflection Eternal, so is the Dark Time Sunshine album.
This album doesn’t begin to stand up to any of his previous albums and that includes Human the death dance which I think was the weakest one.
Like I said I’m not a hater but this album is far from great.
Some meaning full stuff. One of my favorite albums of the year so far.
This is a damn good LP
This was wack. OMG wack. This sounded like some coffee house type shit. Like cats who sit in coffee houses sipping decaf on they laptops listening to this……LOL
This is not hip hop sorry.
Rating is on point. And all of these asinine comments prove that hip hop fans are among the most close-minded, intolerant, idiotic, racist, homophobic, ageist people on Earth.
Great Album. Some actual grown music. If you don’t like it, that probably means you can’t sympathize with him. You probably are too busy buying beemer’s benz’ or bentlys. This is real music. IDK why people try to force this into the hip hop genre or whatever.
Best of Times is my fav song
I have to say this album was not great listening to at first, but the more I listen the more I love it. Not my fav Sage CD but great story telling non the less.
As for people saying he is not Hip Hop, what is Hip Hop, the genre has grown and changed through out the years, for me people saying that Aesop Rock, Sage, Atmosphere Cage etc are rock fused then you can add Eminem, Cypress Hill to that list. Now I am not knocking anyone on that list. But Hip Hop has grown and anyone artist who’s lyrics are not about guns, how many women they have or have a need to big note themselves with women wearing next to nothing in their video clips is worth a listen to me.
Hip Hop is one of the few music genres which can have alot of honesty and tell incredible stories. Sage does this on this CD and he seems to be trying to push his own musical limits compared to many others who are nothing more then rappers telling crappy stories to a drum machine
I can understand how people would think this doesnt have a hip hop sound but dont say Sage Francis himself “isn’t hip-hop” If you listened to his Non-Prophets LP “Hope” then you would know he is just as hip hop as anyone. That album was classic and Joey Beats killed it on the production. “You wanna battle me, by sayin writtens?, that aint sane, better off playin a game of chicken with freight trains, im stickin to the weight gain, while dr. atkins sticks his dietary cock in alot of my fat friends”
I hate S
Didnt get to finish. Anyways i hate Sage Francis as a person and think he is a world class asshole but i do respect his writing abilities and sharp flow.
I can understand how people would think this doesnt have a hip hop sound but dont say Sage Francis himself “isn’t hip-hop” If you listened to his Non-Prophets LP “Hope” then you would know he is just as hip hop as anyone. That album was classic and Joey Beats killed it on the production. “You wanna battle me, by sayin writtens?, that aint sane, better off playin a game of chicken with freight trains, im stickin to the weight gain, while dr. atkins sticks his dietary cock in alot of my fat friends”
I hate S
hip hop is expression of self through rhyming…whether or not this is hip hop shouldn’t even be a discussion. This so called soy milk drinking faggot (talkin to you kush nap) would crush anyone of yall dip shits in a freestyle battle. please get off the comment boards and body yourselves.
could not agree more with you, just because he drinks soy and is a vegetarian, at least that is who he says he is, how many rappers are true to their word, not everyone of them is from the streets or have sold drugs yet many crap on about how that it their lives.
Sage is a incredible rhymer and user of words, not many better free stylers around. He does not pretend to be anyone else, he doesn’t use girls with their tits hanging out to make us watch his clips (which hides the fact the song is crap)
Hip Hop needs artists who try new things and while this is not his best there are some incredible storying telling on this CD.
Going by what Krush Nap says you need to be a gun shooting, drug taking , meat eater to have any credibility in Hip Hop, what a load of shit,
Yeah Hip Hop is from the streets but most artist today have so little street cred and are bankrolled to the Ts to make music, wouldn’t one say a person who self funds self promotes doesn’t have people directing their beats and what they wear have more cred then those that do
Real Lyrics, Real Rap… Me, I Dont Like Aesop rock Style, But Tha Lyrics Is Wat Really matters In Rap
“The streets,” is not a musical genre. Like Talib says, “I don’t represent the streets, I represent the people in em’.” Geographic location is not a barrier to making good music. The Band made great southern rock and their front man was from Canada. Finally, maybe Sage’s roots are in blue grass, and blue grass has its roots in early music played mainly by black people. Just like all forms of true American music, including hip-hop.
Not hip hop? Lol get off it. There’s a few really good songs on here but a lot of it I’m just not into. Never been a big Sage Francis fan except for the few gems he comes up with.
NO COMMENT, THIS IS JUST THE REAL GRADE.
SAGE FRANCIS PERFORMED WITH A PINK THONG ON…WHAT A FUCKIN ULTRA HOMO
I like this album, and past sage albums, its real shit.. so is d-sisive, blitz the ambassador, brother ali, etc.. spittin real shit. thats hip hop…
i don’t care what genre you think it is, it’s good. a different type of music for sage but the more that i listen to it, the more i like it. that’s all that i ever ask for from any artist. you can tell that there was a lot of time and effort put into this album. it’s not just someone throwing a pre-recorded acapella over a beat. do your research before you trash a LEGENDARY MC. it’s sage francis, what more do i need to say.
I was pleased with the album. Sage’s records continue to become more instrumentally sound with each installment and his lyrics were as contemplative, honest, insidious, and genuine as ever. Although I can see a good number of the songs will turn more casual listeners off, the unique sound of this record should be appreciated for the enormous amount of effort it took to create.
And does DX have editors? Holy fuck, peer review your contributions before they’re posted at least!
SOME POWERFUL SHIT.
looks like he had that fag obey do the album cover which is wack
looks like he had that fag obey do the album cover which is wack
emo
I had to listen to this due to all the debate.
I’m neither white or black so unbiased opinion here. I didn’t know who this guy was and didn’t look it up before I listened to this. Yes, it has some rock elements to it but he raps on every song so this qualifies as hip-hop in my book. Wayne, Kanye, Snoop even Public Enemy have rapped over rock infused beats, its still hip-hop.
As for the color of his skin. Why does that come into play? I love how half you guys saying he’s a white fag are the same guys saying the Arizona laws are racist. Judging someone by the color of their skin is racist no matter what color. If Lupe or Wayne rapped some of these same verses over a rock beat you’d think it was dope. Its fine to not like it because is it isn’t good. I don’t like some of these songs either. But to give the album a 1 just because he is white or has a rock beat is just ignorant.
good shit!!
LIL WAYNE IS A FUCKING FAGGOT
BUT YALL KNEW THAT ANYWAY!!!
LIL WAYNE SUCKS MY MAN DINGO!!
dope, sage has really grown as an artists, unfortunately some of his supporters are still stuck on lil wayne
not my type of rapper . cant get into it
The Best Of Times is officialy one of my favorite songs
Another one of them Internet superstars people try to beat you over the head with every time you say you like summin thats “Mainstream”…….I havent heard this one but a few years back I D/L one of his albums, I think it was called “Personal Journals” but I’m not sure…….Either way I listened to it and I’m like “Huh??, this is what ya’ll been hounding me about”…………SMH, just not for me I guess
I love(d) Sage for such a long time, but this album is straight garbage. Lyrically inferior to Personal Journals and all Sick of’s and the beats…we’ll there are none. I’m sad to see Sage go out this way. The Epitaph releases got progressivly worse. Wish he’d find his roots again, but it’s not looking good from here on out. He just can’t rhyme like he used to. Very boring and monotomous. No character to his flow anymore. Disappointing.
Great album! Nuff said.
Interesting to see so many sage haters here. This is to all of you:
Hip hop sucks for the most part. I liked it when i was 15 and needed to vent, but then I grew up. Listening to and supporting a genre that is laden with chauvinism, homophobia (notice the amount of times that ‘faggot’ has been dropped here) and materialism doesn’t make you cool – it makes you an idiot. An immature one. What a bunch of corny bullshit. Fortunately there are a few artists who can make hip hop still bearable. For that, I’ve always respected Sage Francis.